Hemfosa grabs biggest share of Kefren portfolio

Sweden's Hemfosa has emerged as the largest buyer of the Kefren portfolio sold by Stockholm-based Catella during a public auction last month, Erik Westerlund, partner at Catella, told PropertyEU. The Stockholm-based listed company accounted for a share of 54% of the total portfolio in value terms, Westerlund said.

Catella held the auction on behalf of special servicer Capita Asset Services (formerly Barclays Capital Mortgage Servicing). In total, the sale of the 146 properties, the biggest property auction ever held in Sweden, generated SK4,104 mln (EUR 450 mln), Westerlund said. The proceeds are 3% less than the SK 4,240 mln (EUR 465 mln) gross valuation made by CBRE in spring this year.

Kungsleden purchased one of the larger office buildings while Balder acquired a EUR 38 mln mixed property in Malmö. In total, the assets were sold to 78 different buyers, but the number of bidders who looked at the lots during the auction was almost 10 times this figure, Westerlund said. 'There was interest from a number of foreign investors, most of them UK-based.'

Westerlund said he was 'satisfied' with the results. 'The auctions took place during the middle of the latest financial crisis and every property was sold.' He added that the proceeds exceeded the comparable net valuation by 3%. 'The net valuation includes a 4.25% stamp duty and a 2% rental income loss,' he pointed out.

He declined to reveal the identity of the potential buyers, but market sources claim players like Aberdeen, Blackstone and other private equity funds were interested in the properties. The success of local buyers is partly due to the problems of obtaining financing in Sweden for foreign players, Westerlund said. 'The small local players tend to focus on their own country and there are good possibilities here. The Swedish economy has been very strong these last few years, stronger than the rest of Europe and low interest rates means there are opportunities.'